


Time to Love

by Bor_Saudade



Category: 2moons2, BenEarth - Fandom, PavelEarth - Fandom, The Six Moons, canon - Fandom, feelings - Fandom, เดือนเกี้ยวเดือน | 2 Moons The Series (TV)
Genre: M/M, PavelEarth, benearth
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:14:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21869626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bor_Saudade/pseuds/Bor_Saudade
Summary: BenEarth or PavelEarth?
Relationships: Benjamin Brasier/Earth Teerapat Ruangritkul, Phoom "Pavel" Naret Promphaopun/Dome Woranart Ratthanaphast, Phoom "Pavel" Naret Promphaopun/Earth Teerapat Ruangritkul
Comments: 2
Kudos: 51





	1. Friendship

Pavel flinches at his door being slammed. He looks up and is surprised to find Earth with the angriest expression on his face.

"Ahhh I hate him" he screams with all his strength "I hate him, I hate him, why do I care for him so much ahh" he continues his rant while pacing around Pavel's room. After a few minutes of mindlessly talking to himself and walking in circles he crashes on Pavel's bed looking defeated keeping his eyes on the ground.

"Yes? Ah please come in, don't make a ceremony" says Pavel with his arm and hand extended pointing towards the door. Earth just stares a him with an "not funny" look on his face. 

"I'm joking! What's wrong?" Says Pavel even though he could easily guess what was the reason for his friend's outburst.

"I'm sick of Ben putting more energy into ghostships than he does with me! I try so hard to give the fans some moments but he doesn't care, am I really that annoying?" Asks Earth with genuine concern in his voice while pouting at Pavel.

Pavel immediately rushes to Earth's side pushing him into a hug

"Omg Earth! You're not annoying at all, don't ever think that. You know Ben cares for you, he probably just thinks your ship is strong enough already so he wants to show the fans the friendship with the rest of us."

Pavel is now facing Earth with his hand stroking the smaller man's shoulder.

"He could try a bit harder so you wouldn't feel left out but that's a matter of having a talk with him" he advises.

Earth nods still with his cute pout on his lips but not as sad as before. Pavel smiles at him.

"I know is irrational for me to get mad at him for this but I wish he tried harder you know?" Asks Earth looking at Phoom.

"I get it" says Pavel. 

A few seconds go by with complete silence, Pavel massaging Earth's shoulder and back while the older man played with his hands.

"Ah I have a idea!" Yells Pavel suddenly while smiling at his friend.

"What is it? Food?" Asks Earth in an excited tone.

"No" says while chuckling at his friend's cute reaction.

"Let's go live on Instagram together, that will for sure cause some kind of reaction from Ben" suggests Pavel.

"Sure" agrees Earth very quickly to his friend's surprise. 

"Waiting for a bit more resistance but ok" jokes Pavel

"It will be fun and will take my mind off this for a bit so why not?" Shrugged Earth while Pavel planned the "set-up" 

"Ok, you ready?" Asks Pavel with his finger hovering the live button. Earth nods and Pavel presses the button.

"Hi guys!!!" Pavel greets the fans a bit loudly making Earth flinch and laugh a bit

"Hi everyone" greeted Earth right after.

Right away they could see the comments of fans surprised to see PavelEarth doing a live so late at night.  
Both Pavel and Earth laugh at that and explain. 

"Well we were hanging out and decided to go live to greet you guys since it's been a while, you guys enjoyed the surprise?" Asks Pavel

The comments read:

"Omg #PavelEarth rising!!"

"The best surprise!"

"Wonder how Dome and Ben feel about this 🤔" 

"Earth, you look so cute 🥺"

\----------

"Thank youuu" Earth answers in english in the cutest voice, thinks Pavel.

"That's right, PavelEarth for now but tomorrow we go back to our actual babes right?" Teases Pavel, putting an arm over Earth's shoulders while smiling at camera.

"Sure" says Earth without thinking because the last thing he wanted was to think about Ben.

Comment: will Dome or Ben appear too?

"No Dome or Ben, it's PavelEarth night guys. Dome knows he's my main broooOoooO, he won't mind" says the younger man while winking at his phone.

Earth couldn't help laugh at his friend's antics, Pavel really was born to be an entertainer.

"Let's hope not, I wouldn't want to fight him because we all know I would win" says Earth while flexing his biceps.

It was Pavel's turn to laugh out loud at his friend's cuteness. 

"Isn't he the cutest?" Says Pavel while squishing Earth's cheeks

"Hey I can be scary and strong!" Says Earth in the scariest voice he can muster but his cute expression just melts Pavel's heart and he couldn't help laugh again. He looks up and sees that Earth has lifted his hand stretching two fingers and his thumb, making his hand to "be" a gun.

Pavel goes along and puts on a scared expression on his face and mimics being shot when Earth "shoots" at him. Both of them laugh and Pavel surrenders. "Ok you can be scary and strong, happy?" Asks Pavel hearing a "hm" and cute nod from Earth. They turn to read the comments when Earth's phone buzzes. 

Message from Ben:

You said you couldn't hang out because you were busy with school stuff but I see you on Instagram with Pavel. Why did you lie to me?

Earth's expression instantly changes and the other man notices it. In a attempt to cheer his friend up, Pavel reads a comment saying: "Can you two sing something together?" out loud.

Earth head immediately turns to Pavel and with an excited voice he replies "Oh that sounds fun, which song should we sing? The ost of 2 moons 2?" 

Pavel simply nods and says "yeah good choice"

They both start singing the ost of the hit series and can't help smiling while doing it so with all the incoming positive comments:

"The collab we didn't know we needed!"

"Wow you two sound so good together"

"So cute 🥺"

They finish singing and applaud at themselves while laughing.

Comment: "Pavel, sing Microphone with Earth" Pavel reads out loud causing Earth eyes to go bigger at the suggestion and immediately uses his arms to make a "X". 

"He's too innocent for that, guys!" Pavel replies jokingly.

"Yeah sure pfft" answers the older man while laughing. He continues "I just don't have the voice for that type of song...or the dance skills. Dome is the only one that can perform that song with Pavel" replies Earth sincerely.

Pavel scoffs 

"Pfft, he has the skills, he's just too much of a baby to try it but it's cute so I'll let it slide" he explains while bumping their shoulders together.

Earth can't help smiling at his friend teasing and the comments weren't helping with his embarrassment either.

"Omg you two are adorable!"

"Pavel, stop flirting! He's a baby!"

"Earth is no baby, he knows what he's doing 😏" 

"Ben!! Pavel is trying to snatch your man"

Earth reads the last comment and decides to respond. 

"Guys, Ben doesn't care, don't worry" 

He decides to wink after finishing the sentence to not make it seem what he was truly thinking which was that Ben really didn't care but to make it sound teasing and flirty instead.

Pavel interrupts

"I wouldn't be so sure of that, I may have these muscles - he says while flexing his biceps - but Ben would win against anyone when it comes to his Baby Earth"

Earth smiles at Pavel with "I know what you're doing, thank you" look.

Earth turns to read some more comments and one in particular catches his attention.

Comment: "Earth, you should dance to kill this love in the next fanmeet"

Earth reads it out loud in a cute english accent. 

"Maybe" he answers while shrugging his shoulders and wearing a teasing smile on his lips.

"I agree, maybe we should show a bit of what you can do, Earth" suggests Pavel.

He starts singing the chorus of the song and doing the dance moves, he incentivates Earth to join.

The next 5 minutes fly by with the two boys just messing up the dance moves and laughing their hearts out, entertaining themselves and the fans in the process. Once Earth says it's enough because his stomach hurt from laughing too much he went back to read some more comments.

"If Earth dances with the Powerpuff gang, then we will have blackpink 2.0 xd"

"Pavel, you're a great teacher 😂"

"Earth baby, how are you so cute at doing literally everything?"

Earth can't help smile at all the positivity and support in the comments. Pavel is by his side reading the same comments and suddenly talks.

"The comments are so nice, thank you guys" 

They chat for a bit more, answer some more questions and laugh a lot more. 

"Okay this was fun, we're leaving now ok guys?" Pavel says and Earth nods agreeing.

"Yeah, thank you for hanging out with us, we'll see you soon" Earth says while blowing a kiss to the camera.

"Bye bye" they say at the same time.

Pavel finishes the live and Earth falls back on the bed.

"It's the first time I'm this exhausted after a live" Earth states.

"Life of a entertainer" says Pavel while shrugging his shoulders and smiling at Earth.

Earth rolls his eyes and says "Please, anyone that hangs out with you gets exhausted after a while, I don't know how you manage to have so much energy"

"Start working out with me and you'll see your energy levels rise" suggests Pavel.

"Maybe once we're done shooting season 3, Wayo can't have much muscle." explains Earth.

"Makes sense, well I guess you'll have to keep being exhausted around me." jokes Pavel while laying down. He continues "You wanna watch a movie?"

Earth looks at his watch and turns to Pavel "It's getting kinda late, maybe I should go now." 

"Come on, we don't have any schedule tomorrow and we can order food aswell, what do you say?" 

Earth smiles "I will not say no to pizza." Pavel and answers while glaring at Earth "Hum who said it will be pizza?"

"I did." Earth's little pout unables Pavel from denying pizza from his friend.

Pavel sighs and agrees to it. "Yay, I know you would never go something that fattening and greasy but I'm here so it's a special occasion right?" Pavel can only smile, his friend really knew how to get his way.

20 minutes

A slice of pizza on each hand and a movie playing on the computer. Earth started by suggesting Kung Fu Panda, then Pavel said Shrek was better but Earth didn't agree. A lot of suggestions but the winner ended up being Frozen 2, not that it really mattered because both of the boys were too busy on their phones interacting with fans on Twitter. 

Their notifications blew up after their live and the posts, edits and comments were just too funny to ignore.  
At one point Pavel and Dome got into a cute flirting session underneath a PavelEarth post to entertain PavelDoMe fans. And Earth joined the "fight" by posting a picture of Pavel eating pizza with Frozen 2 playing in the background causing Dome to challenge Earth to a "Let it Go" sing off in exchange for Pavel's love.  
The edits that came out of this chat were hilarious, some with Pavel's face in a damsel is distress's body, some videos of Earth and Dome's faces edited onto people singing really badly and so much more.  
Pavel ended it all by tweeting "PavelDoMe for life... ending it here because my ears won't survive these two singing that damn song".

Earth and Pavel kept interacting with fans and talking and laughing and showing each other fun edits for about a hour.  
Once the ending credits appeared on screen, Earth looked at the time and yawned. "I better be going now, I'm kinda tired."

"You can sleep here if you want." Pavel says while still looking at his phone.

"Thanks but my mom is coming back from her trip early morning tomorrow and I wanna be home when she arrives." he says while asking for a taxi on his phone.

"Ok, I'll take you home then" says Pavel while getting up to put on his jacket. Earth stops him "It's okay, I asked for a taxi already"

"It will be much faster on my motorcycle and I will be worried if you're walking around at night alone."

"I don't wanna bother you, it's okay I will get home in an instant" 

Pavel ruffles Earth's hair "It's not a bother, you're my friend and I want you to be safe, text me once you get home ok?"

"I will" Earth replies while nodding.

He gets up and heads towards the door but stops to turn around. "Thank you."

"No worries, whenever you feel like talking don't hesitate okay?" Pavel says sincerely. Earth nods and thanks once again. He closes the door after saying "bye bye" and heads towards the street.

\----

"Thank you so much, have a good night" Earth says to the taxi driver after paying.

He turns around and in front of his home he sees the last person he wanted to see.


	2. I don't know why I did it!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Earth finally lets it all out

"Thank you so much, have a good night" Earth says to the taxi driver after paying.

He turns around and in front of his home he sees the last person he wanted to see.

"Ben, what are you doing here?"

"I'm the one that should be asking the questions, you see how late it is? You know it's dangerous to walk alone at night. I told you many times that you can call me if you need a ride no matter what!" Ben says it all at once and Earth is taken back by how angry the older man looks. 

Earth goes to talk but Ben starts talking again. "Why didn't you answer my call?"

Earth fidgets a bit but still answers firmly "I was live on IG with Pavel, I can't answer a call during a live."

"I texted you aswell, you could've replied during the live or while you two were having dinner or on the taxi ride back home." Ben says while folding his arms across his chest.  
He continues "I told you already, you and Pavel can be friends but you need to keep it on the down low, there were dating rumours involving you two! I don't like that fans hype up you two, BenEarth is more important!"

That was the last straw for Earth. He was so angry by Ben's words that he just let it all out.   
"You have no say in what I can do or hang out with! If fans like BenEarth or PavelEarth is their business, I will not stop living how I want because of the fans! You always play around with the other boys and incentive ghostships, why can't I? And I didn't answer any of your texts because you are the last person I wanna see or talk to right now!" 

Earth yells that last sentence and he should feel bad for it but he feels like a weight has been lifted off his shoulders...he needed to let it all out.

Ben was clearly hurt but Earth kept a stern expression.

"What did I do?" Ben looked genuinely confused.

Earth sighs and starts talking "You treat me like a baby, always laughing when I make mistakes, always telling me who I can and can't go out with, always warning me about things I already know, always..." Earth had many more but he felt like his point was made so he moved to the next issue.

"I want us to be friends, I want you to stop treating me like I can't take care of myself and I can't say for you to stop joking about ghostships because that's not I want, I want us all to be friends but if you're gonna put that much energy into that, the least you can do is pay attention to me the most because like you said BenEarth should be the main thing. In different dynamics because the way you treat me right now makes me feel like you don't see us as equals...makes me feel like you don't respect me" Earth looked tired and just sad, there's no other way to describe it.

Ben never meant to make Earth feel like this, he saw Earth as someone very precious that needed to be taken care of. He was scared someone would take advantage of him or hurt him so he would treat him with the most care, he didn't treat him like the other boys because he meant a lot more than the other boys to him.   
Hearing that he was the one that has been hurting Earth and making him feel rejected broke his heart. Seeing the person he cared for the most on the verge of tears in front of him because of him broke his heart. He wanted to tell him all that but he couldn't...

A very small "I'm sorry" was all he was able to muster.

Earth looked at him for a while with a raised eyebrow as in "That's all you have to say" expression.

Ben kept looking at the ground and only when he realised Earth was starting to walk away he decided to say "I'm sorry" a bit louder than last time.

Earth stop walking and kept his back to Ben.  
He hears a third and loudest "I'm sorry" so far.

He turns around and Ben continues to talk "I'm really sorry I made you feel like I don't respect you and haven't been paying you the attention you deserve" he sighs "You mean so much to me Earth, you have no idea and I just want you to be safe. I thought I was doing a good job but I guess I was not."

Earth replies "Is not your job to keep me safe, Ben."

"I know, I know but I can't help worry Earth! I mean, you're one of the kindest people I've ever met and people tend to take advantage of people like you"

"I may be kind but I'm not naive."

"I'm aware, I'm sorry I was a bad friend and I promise I'll put more energy into BenEarth" Ben smiles and Earth can't help smile back.

Ben goes for a hug and Earth gladly accepts it.

They were complete strangers awhile ago but now they're two really good friends hugging in the middle of the street at almost 1am.

They separate and Earth says while looking into Ben's eyes "I really appreciate how much you care for me, I really do. I care for you just as much but for our friendship to be healthy, we need to have boundaries"

"Yeah, friendship" Ben whispers quietly.

Ben probably didn't intent for Earth to hear him but he did and is now wondering why he said that in such a sad tone.

"Is everything okay?" Earth asks.

Ben is just standing still but Earth can see the way Ben's eyes travel to his lips. Ben starts to lean in but Earth's quick reflexes stop him from doing something he would regret later.   
Ben just stares at the youngest like a deer caught in headlights. Earth can see all the thoughts going through Ben's mind right now, the main one being Ben himself can't believe he just tried to kiss his friend.

He doesn't get the chance to say anything because Ben is already running to his car. 

Earth stands in the middle of the street trying to understand everything that just happened.

~ Next morning ~

Nine and Joong enter the Motive's meeting room and say good morning to Dome and Earth that unsurprisingly were the first ones to arrive.

Five minutes go by and Pavel enters the room while saying hi to everyone. He sits next to Earth and quietly asks if everything is okay. He notices how Earth looks stressed and worried and his worry grows when his friend shakes his head.

"I kinda need to talk to someone." Earth explains.

Pavel nods and gets up followed by Earth. 

"Where are you guys going?" Joong asks.

"To the vending machine, wanna come?" Earth says. He trusts Joong and could use a third opinion. 

"Sure! You're not really going to the vending machine are you?" The youngest of the group asks as soon as they're out of the room.

"I am." Says Pavel while rushing to the said machine making the two other boys laugh.

"You look stressed, is everything okay?" Joong asks. 

"I'm okay, I just know I can't keep something like this to myself, I'll explode if I don't talk about this." Earth explains.

They reach the vending machine, Pavel already with a snack in hand offering another one to Joong. "Okay, talk now."

"Ben tried to kiss me." Earth just said it and watched Joong's eyes go the widest he's ever seen while Pavel coughed after almost choking upon hearing the news.

A long minute goes by of Pavel and Joong just staring at Earth. They couldn't believe what their friend just said.

Earth was growing impatient "Someone please say something, I was gonna say it is not a big deal but by your reactions I can see I was clearly wrong"

Joong speaks up "How can you think this is not a big deal? This changes everything! What exactly happened?"

Earth proceeded to explain "I arrived home last night and Ben was waiting for me, he started going on about how dangerous it is to be out there by myself at night and started saying that I can't hang out with Pavel and be so open about it." Pavel was dumbfounded and a bit angry from Earth's perspective.

The oldest continued to explain "I snapped and yelled at him saying he needs to stop treating me like a baby and he has no say in what I decide to be open about to the fans...he understood, apologized and hugged me" 

Joong nods while Pavel waits for Earth to continue.

"After the hug, he just stared at me, then my lips and leaned in...with intentions but I stopped him. And then he just ran to his car and left" Earth finishes explaining.

Joong was shocked by the whole thing "Oh wow, I never thought he could do something like that. I got one question for you tho" Joong points to Earth. Earth nods for him to talk.

"Why did you stop him?" 

Out of all the questions possible, Earth never thought he would have to answer that.

"What do you mean why? We're just friends, he was clearly emotional and we would've both regret it." Earth stated the obvious.

"You're thinking with your head, what if he actually likes you?" The innocent youngest replies.

"You're forgetting something, Ben has a girlfriend." Pavel speaks up for the first time since Earth dropped the bomb.

Earth felt understood "Exactly! He probably regrets what he did and I don't consider it a big deal for that reason. Sometimes we let our emotions take over but they don't have to mean anything. He looked really embarrassed when I pushed him away"

Pavel nods "You need to talk to him."

Joong interrupts "He hasn't talked about his girlfriend to us for weeks so don't just assume it meant nothing. Ask him why he did what he did, don't go straight to tell him that you understand it was a mistake, it will crush him if he actually likes you."

Earth and Pavel were shocked to hear how mature Joong has gotten. Earth never thought of it that way, he was indeed thinking of taking it as a mistake and refer to it as a mistake to Ben.

Earth was gonna talk but Pavel beated him to it, he put his arm on Joong's shoulder and said "Our giant baby is all grown, I can't believe. That was really smart, I gotta agree with you"

Earth nods "Yeah, you're right Joong." 

Joong lifts up his head and crosses his arms with a proud expression. The other two can't help chuckle at the youngest acting cute.

"I got a question for you too" Pavel says.

After getting a curious look from Earth he continues "How do you feel about this? If he didn't have a girlfriend, would you have kissed him?"

Earth doesn't have an answer for that. "I don't know."

\--- 

Back in the meeting room, Ben was arriving and finding it weird that Dome and Nine were the only ones in the room.

Nine detects his confusion and attempts to calm him down "The other three went to the vending machine, he's okay don't worry." 

Ben relaxes a bit but Dome still senses some distress in Ben's expression.

Ben talks before he can "Did Earth look okay?" 

Nine and Dome look at eachother wondering why was Ben asking them that.

Dome finally says "He looked normal."

Ben looked even more distressed after hearing that and Nine's curiosity got the best of him so he asked "Ben, what's wrong? Did something happen?"

Ben looked at his friends and then at the door back at his friends back at the door. This happened for a while until he just decided to sit down and tell them everything.

He sighed and looked defeated. Dome and Nine were really worried now but patiently waited for Ben to speak up.

"I did something really stupid." Ben starts.

"What? You and Earth didn't kiss right? That would be stupid!" Dome jokes trying to lighten up the mood and Nine laughs aswell but Ben's expression remains serious.

Nine and Dome slowly replicate their friend's seriousness.

"You and Earth kissed?" Nine asks now in a very concerned tone.

Ben covers his face with both his hands in shame.

"Ben..." The surprise can be heard in Dome's voice.

"We didn't kiss but I tried. He pushed me away...I don't know why I did it."

"That is a blunt lie!" Nine speaks up. "The way you look at him says it all, you always treated him with the most care and I told you many times that you like him but you never heard me. Your emotions got the best of you and probably scared him" 

Dome decided to be the mediator between them "Ben, don't you have a girlfriend? I mean, you haven't talked about her in a while but I assumed you were still together"

Ben looks at Dome and answers "She broke up with me." 

Dome and Nine were shocked to hear that "Why didn't you tells us?" The youngest of the three asks.

"I was going to but honestly, I wasn't that affected by it as I thought I would be. We didn't see eachother often and I eventually got over it. Of course I loved her but I guess it wasn't meant to be."

Dome puts his hand on Ben as an unspoken way of showing support.

"I'm really sorry Ben." Nine states.

After a few minutes of silence, Ben decides to move on "I appreciate it guys but I've moved on from the break up. Now my problem is how badly I fucked up my relationship with Earth, he probably hates me and will treat me differently from now on."

"Just talk to him, like you always say he's one of the kindest people, I'm sure he will hear you out when you're ready to talk." Dome explains.

Nine asks what Dome was thinking aswell "Will you admit now that you indeed like Earth?"

Ben is not even surprised by such question, he understands that they might be curious. "I knew I felt more than friendship towards him but always saw it as respect and admiration for him. Trust me, no one is as shocked as me over the fact that I tried to kiss him. Maybe I do like him...I don't know. I really need to talk to him."

Dome and Nine nod their heads in approval.

"What exactly happened that lead to you wanting to kiss him?" Dome asks

"I saw him doing a live with Pavel and when I sent a message he ignored it. I gave him time to reply but he didn't and I guess I got jealous."

Dome understood his friend, Ben never liked how popular PavelEarth was.   
He saw him sad many times because of how comfortable Earth and Pavel were with eachother. Dome himself wasn't bothered by it because he finds it great that all of them got along so well but now that he knows Ben may actually like Earth he understands why Ben wasn't so fond of it and tried to drown all their moments by putting energy into his own ghostships to get the most attention.

"So I drove to his house, now that I think of it I don't even know why I did it but I was mad that he was at Pavel's house at such hour and wanted to make sure he got home safely. He arrived and my emotions just took over and I told him he can't keep being public about his friendship with Pavel and that he can't walk alone at night."

Ben could see the disapproval in Nine's face. He was quick to explain. "I realize now I was being possessive and Earth made me see that I wasn't treating him properly, don't worry"

Nine nods in approval this time and Ben continues "I felt like hugging him and he allowed me so I did. After the hug I leaned in but he stopped me from doing so...I really don't know what came over to me, I just know I wanted to kiss him"

Ben's expression when saying that last sentence broke Dome's heart.   
He looked so desperate for love, not any kind of love. Love from someone that made him smile no matter what and he felt the need to protect and would protect him aswell. It may not look like it but Ben is a sensitive guy, he wears his heart on his sleeve and doesn't mean to hurt anyone.   
He is hot headed sometimes but has good intentions.

Dome wondered if he should share what he knows but before he could consider it P'Mhee enters the room with a bunch of other people meaning the meeting was gonna take place in a bit.

P'Mhee says good morning and gets a reply from everyone in the room and Pavel that is now entering the room followed by Joong and then Earth.

Ben avoids looking in Earth's direction while the other searched for Ben and kept his gaze on him while walking to his seat.

The meeting starts so Dome puts his thoughts aside for now.


	3. Talk it out...

The meeting about their future events and projects has ended 5 minutes ago but they were still hanging out in the meeting room arguing over where they should go for lunch.

Dome started by suggesting a really good restaurant and Earth agreed but everyone else shut down the idea right away because last time they went to a place Dome suggested to eat, the bill was a shocker to everyone.   
"It's the price to pay for good food." Dome said countless times.  
"Pizza is good food and doesn't make my wallet cry." Joong would reply everytime.

Then it was Pavel who suggested sushi but Joong and Nine gagged at the idea. "We ordered sushi last night and got sick." was their justification which then turned into a lecture by Dome on how to tell if the cheapest raw fish they could find at midnight was safe to eat. Joong actually took notes and Nine just laughed at his friend attentively listening to Dome.   
So sushi was not an option.

Earth then suggested a nice salad place "I need something light after all the pizza I ate last night" and Pavel agreed.   
Nine noticed Ben's reaction to Earth's mention of last night and decided to end the subject there. "I prefer something warm and filling, why don't we order food here? Each one gets what they want."

Ben decided to speak up after a while "I really need to get some fresh air." 

Dome decides to put an end to the discussion "Okay, let's all go to the mall and each can get what they want there." 

Surprisingly everyone agrees so they head out.

~

They get to the mall and Joong and Nine say they need to head to bathroom first, Earth says he will go with them but Nine stops him "C'mon you're not leaving Ben alone right?" 

"He's not alone, Dome an-" Earth stops talking when he turns around to see Pavel and Dome walking towards the escalator and getting on it heading upstairs.

"Dome said they needed to go somewhere just the two of them." Ben explained "And apparently they were really holding it in." Ben continues while pointing at Joong and Nine that are now running towards the bathroom.

Ben and Earth can't help laugh at their friends lame attempts to get them alone.

"You told them, didn't you?" Ben asked with a little smile. "Yes and Joong actually gave me a good advice."

"What was it?"

"He basically told me to shut up and listen to you in a nicer way" Earth joked.

It was amazing how at ease Ben felt with Earth. Even after messing up and doing something most people would hate him for Earth still played around and made him smile.

"I owe you an explanation, let's find a quieter place to talk" 

Earth nods and follows Ben.

Meanwhile...

As soon as they get to the bathroom, Nine turns to Joong "Ok, obviously we both know what happened, tell me everything Earth told you."

"Okay, at first he saw it as only a mistake but I convinced him not to refer it as a mistake to Ben because he might have feelings for him and that could be him making a move but felt embarrassed because he got rejected. Earth's not mad or anything, he's just super confused because he knows Ben has a girlfriend but he still tried to kiss him, me and Pavel kept telling him that Ben might have feelings for him...wow we were no help, he's probably more confused than ever." Joong stopped talking when he saw that Nine was smiling.

Joong raised an eyebrow "You know something don't you? What did Ben tell you?" at this point Joong was smiling aswell.

Nine finally talks "She broke up with him."

Joong expression changes "Why does that make you happy? That means he feels lonely and is probably needy. Good thing Earth stopped him, maybe it really was a mistake."

Nine just sighed "Joong! He is over her, he told us about the break up and when me and Dome tried to console him, he just said he wasn't that sad about it because they grew apart and changed the topic to Earth right away!"

Joong is curious "So you're saying he really likes Earth?" 

"I'm saying maybe he indeed is lonely or maybe he really does like Earth and decided to take his chance with him. He said he's not sure about his feelings and needs to talk to Earth... let's hope they're talking right now and Ben is realizing that what he did wasn't just a mistake"

"So you do think he likes Earth." Joong teases.

"Of course I do! Have you seen the way he looks at him?...I wonder if Earth feels the same way and if he would've kissed him if he knew they broke up." Nine thinks out loud.

"That's exactly what Pavel asked him!" Joong exclaims.

Nine's eyes light up "Oh my god! What did he answer?"

"He just said he doesn't know." the youngest shrugged.

Nine hits Joong's arm lightly "Damn it, don't raise my hopes like that!"

"I feel bad for Pavel tho." Joong suddenly says catching Nine by surprise.

"Pavel? Why?" The oldest asks.

Also meanwhile....

"So where are we going? And why did you separate us from the group like that?" Pavel asks as they are going up the escalator.

"Nine and I are trying to leave Ben and Earth alone so they can talk." explains Dome and Pavel just replies with an "ok".

Dome sees the sad look on his friend's face "I know you're worried about him but Earth can take care of himself and they really need to talk."

"I know... I'm just curious to why Ben tried to do that."

Dome sighs "Even Ben doesn't know, he recently went through a break up and is trying figure out a lot right now."

Pavel didn't hear anything after the words "break up" were said "Wait! They broke up? What do you mean? She was always saying how they were gonna get married one day and looked so happy together." 

Dome shrugs "Well, people change, feelings change and according to Ben, it wasn't meant to be."

Pavel takes a few seconds to process the news he just got. He actually liked Ben and his ex as a couple. She is what you could call 'the perfect girl' and they always looked so in love so this was a shocker to Pavel.  
Weirdly he felt sad that they broke but it was sadness mixed with fear. He was scared that Ben had feelings for Earth and that is why they broke up and he tried to kiss his friend.  
A part of him wonders if he liked Ben and his ex together because it meant Ben and Earth couldn't be together. 

"If he plays with Earth's feelings, I won't hesitate to beat his ass!" Pavel can't help it.

"I know but you know Ben is a good guy, he wouldn't do that on purpose. Your need to protect Earth is admirable but let them figure this out on their own."

"Earth deserves the best, I hope he's aware of it."

Dome looks at his friend and can't help feeling helpless.   
The Pavel that is always ready to cheer everyone up and entertain looked broken and he couldn't do anything about it.

He however couldn't stand and just watch him be sad. "Come on! Sushi is over there!" Dome held Pavel's arm and made him look up.  
Pavel lighted up upon the menu of all the delicious food he could choose from and Dome couldn't help smile.

~

Ben and Earth were now sitting in the food court, it was a somewhat private area so they could talk but Ben wasn't saying anything so Earth decides to start it off.

"I'm not mad Ben, I'm just confused. You have a girlfriend right? So why did you try to kiss me?"

Ben wanted to tell Earth everything he told Nine and Dome, about how she broke up with him and more on why she did it however Ben couldn't help thinking that telling him everything would make Earth think he indeed liked him and Ben wasn't even sure of his feelings yet so he decided not to tell.

"Yeah I have a girlfriend but we haven't been seeing each other a lot lately... I'm really sorry I did that, I think I was just emotional and needy."

"It's okay, I mean I am the only person you kissed besides her, I kinda understand it. It would be weird if you tried to kiss, I don't know... Joong."  
Ben's face upon hearing Earth say that was the image of "Ew" and Earth couldn't help laugh at his friend's reaction.

Ben felt like a piece of shit for lying to Earth but he needed to figure things out before telling Earth anything, if wouldn't be fair to tell him that he tried to kiss him and then proceed to say he doesn't know if he likes him.  
The last thing he wants to do is confuse Earth even more or ruin their friendship. 

"So this actually turned out to be a good thing because yesterday we talked about how to have a more functional friendship and today you're opening up about your relationship and feelings which is really rare for you to do." Earth comments.

"I guess after our talk I feel more comfortable to be more open around you." Ben smiled because that was indeed a good thing.

Earth smiled and said "I'm glad you feel that way, you know I'll always be here if you need to talk. And if that stops from trying to kiss your friends, it's a bonus." 

Ben couldn't help laughing at Earth's attempt to make him feel even more at ease. "Thank you, and you know you can talk to me too right? Don't overthink it, just let it out."

Earth nods that cute nod of his as a response.

"Well, they all disappeared so we could talk and we talked already so should we go look after them?" Earth suggests but Ben shakes his head.  
"They were the ones that left us, they should be the ones looking after us. Let's get our food first, I'm starving." 

Earth just smiles and gets up to follow the oldest boy because for the first time today he saw the usual playful Ben. Earth felt at ease and happy for clarifying what he was correct to assume was a mistake.

However a very hidden part of him wishes it wasn't a mistake. Earth just didn't know that yet.


End file.
